Rating Process Flow-

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Rating Process

This page describes the activities which the Rating Process executes in order to rate billing records against subscribers. Any missing information throughout the process will move the billing record to the error queue; hence this document could also be used to track down rating errors by following the steps of the rating process and finding out which information is missing in the system (and most likely in the product configuration). Please note that understanding the rating process requires knowledge of the product configuration.

Rating Flow

The rating process starts when a billing record is received. The first activities of the rating process are aimed at finding the subscriber and his/her rate plan.

Step 1 - The Billing Record

The billing record contains the subscriber's information such as the ICC, IMSI or the A-number - depending on the implementation of the system. The billing record also contains the event information, i.a. the date and time when the event took place, the rating code and rating key or the b-number. This information is very important, because each step of the rating process will use it against the product configuration.

Step 2 - Find the Rate Plan

The IMSI/ICC/Anumber is picked up from the billing record and is used for finding the subscriber and the associated rate plan. From the information in the billing record, the corresponding subscription is found. From the subscription, the rate plan could be identified. Within customer care, the rate plan relating to a subscription could be seen on the subscription details tab.

Step 3 - Find the Number Plan 

When the rate plan is found, the rating process will look into the tele rates and find the number plan linked to the service code within the tele rates. The rating process uses the rating code from the billing record to find the service code and therefore the number plan. In order to examine the number plan, select the relevant rate plan and then click Edit. This will open up the 'Edit Rate Plan' popup. Select the 'Service Code' under 'Tele Rates' to see the associated number plan in the 'Number Plan' panel.

In the screenshot below, the rate plan 'Fixedline' has the service code 'NATIONAL CALL', and the number plan associated with this service code is 'Mobile National'. The rating process will compare the event/charge date present within the billing record with the from and to dates listed in the number plan configuration.

Step 4 - Find the B-number Method

After finding the associated number plan, the rating plan moves on to the number plan and looks at the configured b-number method. Keep in mind that the type of b-number method depends on the configuration of the customer. It could be getRatingKey or could also be getBNumber method. If it is getRatingKey, then the rating process will look at the rating key given in the billing record and compare it with the configured plan elements. If it is the getBNumber method, then the rating process will pick up the b-number from the billing record and compare it with the available plan elements.

The rating process finds the plan element using 'Best Match'.

The rating key or b-number method for the number plan could be seen by looking at 'Number Plans'. Select the number plan that was selected in the 'Edit Rate Plan' from the 'Number Plans' panel. After selecting the number plan, click Edit. In the 'Edit Number Plan' pop-up the b-number method can be seen. In the screenshot below, the b-number method for the number plan 'Mobile National' is getRatingKey. This means that the rating key mentioned in the billing record will be taken in order to find the plan element in the next step.

Step 5 - Find the Plan Element

The rating process finds the plan element via 'Best Match' using the b-number method information. Once the plan element has been found, the rating process looks at the rate day information associated with that plan element. In order to look at the plan element, use the b-number method to select a plan element from the 'Plan Elements' panel.

For example, if the b-number is getRatingKey, then compare the value of the rating key with the available plan elements. In the screenshot below, 'MOBILE..Mobile national' is the plan element selected when looking at the rating key in the billing record (for example the rating key = MOBILE).

Dot and double dot

When handling plan elements, there are a few important things to consider. In particular, sometimes the dot "." must to be used in order to have a proper plan element tree configuration. The lack of usage of this character will make the rating fail.

In the example above,the price is defined in the element Group 1. The elements below Group 1 do not point to a charge item; the parent defines the price. Remember that if double dot ''..'' is not put in the beginning of the children, then they will not call the parent ''.'' for accessing the charge item, hence the rating would fail. Since the parent Group 1 is defining the charge item so it is being edited to use ''.'' in the beginning and not the double dot ''..''.

Step 6 - Check the Rate Days

Now the rating process looks at the configured rate days. The rating process will compare the event/charge date present within the billing record with the start and end dates listed in the 'Rate Day' configuration.

In order to look at the 'Rate Day' configuration, select the relevant plan element and then have a look at the 'Rate Day' panel. Please note that the charge/event date should be equal to or should lie between the configured dates. In the screenshot it can be seen that the rate day is 'N-SINGLE' and has an open start and end date.

Step 7 - Check the Day Charges

After the rating process has found the rate day, it looks at the day charges. It again compares the charge/event data present in the billing record with the configured day charges.

In order to look at the 'Day Charge' configuration, select the relevant 'Rate Day' and then click Edit. On the 'Edit Rate Day' pop-up, there will be a 'Day Charge' panel. Please note that the day the charge/event took place should be within the configured days. In the screenshot it can be seen that all the days of the week are selected for the rate day 'N-SINGLE'.

Step 8 - Check the Time Charges

After looking at the day charge, the rating process looks at the time the event occured. The rating process would look at the start and the end time configured for the day the event occurred.

In order to look at the 'Time Charge' configuration, select the relevant 'Day Charge', to see the 'Time Charge' configured for the selected day. Please note that the time the event took place should be within an already configured time charge. In the screenshot below the time configured is 00:00 til 24:00.

Step 9 - Find the Charge Items

The rating process will now look at the charges defined for the time the event took place. It would pick up the relevant charge and use it for rating the event.

In order to look at the configured charge items, double click or Edit the 'Time Charge'. In the 'Edit Time Charge' pop-up, the configured charge items are present. Please note that the charge item for the time selected should be present, otherwise there can be no rating and the rating would fail. In the screenshot below, both the 'Initial' and 'Recurrent' charge items have been configured.  

Step 10 - Successfully Rated Billing Record

If there are no missing or misconfigured items in each of the above mentioned steps, and they run successfully, then the rating process will result in the successful rating of the billing record. The output of a successfully rated billing record is an invoice detail line, linked to the original billing record.